Heart of Oregon Corps begins effort to gauge impact
Heart of Oregon Corps has announced the start of a three-year Data Driven Impact Initiative to better capture and communicate the organization’s positive impact on the community it serves, as well as inform programming disparities and areas for refinement.
This organizational capacity project addresses the need for data-driven decision-making and evidence-informed and evidence-based practices for programming that engages opportunity youth, a population that is historically difficult to track and report on.
HOC Board Member and HOC graduate Sarah LaRocque-Fields shared, “We owe it to each youth to use data to know that our programs continue to make a real, lasting impact–they’re not going to get another chance.”
The Data Driven Impact Initiative is supported by a new staff position, the Data Coordinator, as well as highly specialized system consultants, an advisory Board Member, and a program staff workgroup. The three years will be broken into three phases: designing a regionally aligned system blueprint; developing system infrastructure and training users; and launching and sustaining the system to improve service and demonstrate impact.
HOC is aligning its new data practices with two other regional organizations – TRACEs and Better Together – which, when assessed as a whole, can provide longitudinal data that will better indicate overall community impacts and inform how these organizations can best serve the community.
Jeremiah Brickhouse, Vice President of the HOC Board of Directors, said, “The Heart of Oregon Corps Data Initiative will be a complete redesign and upgrade to the existing participant information systems that will transform the way Heart of Oregon collects and leverages data to improve decision making and how we serve our youth.”
“This is exciting, from a board perspective, because it will help Central Oregon youth actively contribute to their lives and community.”
The Data Driven Impact Initiative was made possible with major support from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and the following Oregon Community Foundation donor-advised funds: Jerry and Corrine Nothman Fund, Robert W. and Nancy R. Chandler Fund, Robert W. Chandler Fund, Ward Family Fund, and An Anonymous Fund.
About Heart of Oregon Corps
Heart of Oregon Corps is a nonprofit organization invested in inspiring and empowering change in the lives of Central Oregon youth through jobs, education, and stewardship. Their programming creates pathways out of poverty while stimulating regional economic growth. They apply a “work-earn-learn” model that invests in local young people, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds, to prepare them for the workforce and to encourage their self-sufficiency. Heart of Oregon Corps trains tomorrow’s workforce today! For more info, visit http://heartoforegon.org/
